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Overview of Database Experimentation Assistant

01/08/2019

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Database Experimentation Assistant (DEA) is an experimentation solution for SQL Server upgrades. DEA can help you evaluate a targeted version of SQL Server for a specific workload. Customers who are upgrading from earlier SQL Server versions (starting with 2005) to a more recent version of SQL Server can use the analysis metrics that the tool provides.

DEA analysis metrics include:

Queries that have compatibility errors

Degraded queries and query plans

Other workload comparison data

Comparison data can lead to higher confidence and a successful upgrade experience.

For a 19-minute introduction to DEA and a demonstration, watch the following video:

Get DEA

To install DEA, download the latest version of the tool. Then, run the DatabaseExperimentationAssistant.exe file.

Solution architecture for comparing workloads

The following diagram shows the solution architecture for a workload comparison. The workload comparison uses DEA and Distributed Replay during an upgrade from SQL Server 2008 to SQL Server 2016.

Configure DEA

In the prerequisite environment architecture, we recommend that you install DEA on the same machine as the Distributed Replay controller. This practice avoids cross-machine calls and simplifies configuration.

Required configuration for workload comparison by using DEA

DEA connects to database servers by using Windows authentication. Be sure that a user running DEA can connect to database servers (source, target, and analysis) by using Windows authentication.

Capture configuration requirements:

User running DEA can connect to the source database server by using Windows authentication.

User running DEA has sysadmin rights on the source database server.

Service account running the source database server has write access to the trace folder path.

Set up telemetry

DEA has an internet-enabled feature that can send telemetry information to Microsoft. Microsoft collects telemetry to enhance the product experience. Telemetry is optional. The information that's collected is also saved on your computer for local audit. You can always see what's collected. All log files from DEA are saved in the %temp%\DEA folder.

You can decide which events are collected. You also decide whether collected events are sent to Microsoft. There are four types of events: